The Thin Line Between $1 Billion And Going Out Of Business – A Conversation With Instagram's Kevin Systrom

Before becoming a millionaire hundreds of times over when
Facebook bought his startup for $1
billion, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom spoke at Business Insider's
Ignition West conference just a few weeks ago.

At the conference, Kevin and I had a conversation that is, in
retrospect, pretty enlightening.

I told Kevin that Instagram, which is an easy-to-use, fast,
photo-sharing app, was just about the only reason I used Facebook
anymore.

I said I take photos on my phone and, through Instagram, share
them onto Facebook. I did that instead of using the Facebook app
to take photos because the Facebook app is painfully slow.

What Kevin said to that was: "Please don't tell them that!"

Then I said to Kevin that I hoped Instagram would someday allow
users to tag their Facebook friends in photos in the app, instead
of forcing them to do it later, on Facebook.

What Kevin said to that was something like (pharaphrasing):
I'd love that too. But it's not in the Facebook API, and I
don't expect Facebook to change that soon. We are the only app
that would want it. The sense I get is that they aren't going to
put a lot of resources toward making us more successful.

Now that Instagram has been acquired by Facebook, it's easy to
look back at it as a huge threat to an incumbent that was forced
to pay up to escape disruption.

But the truth was, it was a an app built on the incumbent's turf,
and just as easily as Facebook bought Instagram, it could have
crushed it in a second. And Kevin knew it.

He was as worried as he was hopeful.

I suppose that's the mix any entrepreneur aiming for
disruption has to expect.